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Kelly family ready to bury famed outlaw

Carl Dickens

Hours before his hanging, Australia's most storied outlaw made a last request, that his loved ones receive his body so they could bury it in sacred ground.

This weekend, 133 years later, Ned Kelly's family will finally be granted that wish.

Joanne Griffiths, the great-granddaughter of Kelly's sister Kate, says the bushranger's remains - minus his missing skull - will be buried in an unmarked grave in regional Victoria, with a memorial service to take place on Friday.

"Our aim is to give Edward a dignified funeral like any family would want to," she told ABC radio on Wednesday.

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"It's obviously a very difficult and painful time.

"We've waited a long time to bury a loved family member ... we just ask people to give us the respect to bury him with some privacy and dignity on the day."

The service for Kelly, set to be conducted by Monsignor John White at St Patrick's Church in the town of Wangaratta, will be a traditional Catholic mass in line with the bushranger's wishes, Ms Griffiths said.

"That's what he would've wanted, that's what he requested, and he wished to be buried in consecrated ground," she said.

Anthony Griffiths, great-grandson of Kelly's sister Grace, said the service will not seek to glorify any of the bushranger's criminal infamy.

"To us, it's just a family funeral service," he told AAP.

Mr Griffiths said while Kelly's skull remained missing since being stolen from an Old Melbourne Gaol display case in 1978, the family did not want to wait any longer to bury his remains since their identification in 2011.

He said "a fair percentage" of the hundreds of Kelly family descendants were set to attend the funeral, which heightened the need for privacy.

Ms Griffiths said Kelly would not be buried on the day of the service, and she would not confirm whether he was to be interred alongside relatives in the cemetery at Greta, near Glenrowan, the site of his famous last stand with police before his capture.

His grave will be unmarked, which Ms Griffiths said she hoped would help give him peace.

Kelly was hanged at Old Melbourne Gaol in 1880 for killing three police officers.

The location of his remains had been a mystery until late 2011, when scientists used DNA testing to identify bones from a skeleton exhumed from a mass grave at the former Pentridge Prison site as Kelly's.

Former prison chaplain Professor Peter Norden, who is close to the Kelly family and has prepared eulogy notes for the memorial, says he hopes the service and burial will "bring some peace and healing" to the family.

"I'm pleased that it's happening, and I believe he didn't get a decent trial - at least he can get a decent burial," Prof Norden told AAP.